


Eyes Wide Open

by corinnemaree



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Eventual Smut, F/M, In Your Eyes AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-09-26 01:58:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9856856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corinnemaree/pseuds/corinnemaree
Summary: Caroline and Klaus make a connection the moment Caroline is born. Their telepathic connection cannot be explained with magic and the two have never seen each other; only seen, heard and felt what the other can. Though, the two are fated to meet.





	1. Scared To Be Lonely

**Author's Note:**

> So, binge watching tvd will make you bitter all over again apparently. note that i've never watched the originals, and this will probably all be crap. (also, this is an au based on the movie 'In Your Eyes') I have no idea what I'm doing but I hope you all like this.

When Caroline was young, there was a harsh snow that fell over Mystic Falls. Everyone had come out to experience it, and all the children of the town came to build snowmen and sled on the hills. Caroline had never gone sledding before, but she was determined to conquer it. Klaus was in another hotel room, feeding on another girl in another city. He had been doing this for centuries and had no plans on stopping. But something inside him told him to hold on tight. He didn’t understand it until he saw the crisp white snow around. 

Small hands gripped into a sled, a shaky breath billowing into the air. Then, courage took over. Klaus felt separate from himself, yet still remaining who he was. He gave courage when the voice inside his head told him not to. Pushing off, the sled took off down the hill, the adrenaline kicked in, Klaus’ head feeling like it was collapsing in on itself, the shear force that held him in place within that scene. 

Then, it became clear that whoever was controlling the sled had no sense of how to steer, their course headed straight for a tree. Breathing frantic, the person squeaked as the tree became the final destination and Klaus was unable to do a damned thing. He felt himself rocking and shaking, then the collision. Klaus was thrown from his lounging spot, his head in an unfamiliar daze. Caroline was knocked out cold. She didn’t go sledding again. 

It was their first interaction of a lifetime of connection. 

 

*~*~*

 

Caroline had a perfectly designed life, her best friends by her side as she made her way through high school and then onto college. Then, the Salvatore Brothers walked into Mystic Falls. Things got weirder and Caroline managed to get herself into a mess that she wasn’t sure how to get out of. Things stopped making sense and her relationship with Damon got too intense. Leaving that all behind, she was trying to hit with Matt, have his comfort in a time where she felt worthless. 

Preparing for a night in with Matt, Caroline felt a soft scratch run across her jaw before into desperate fingers clawing at her neck. She spun around, placing her hand to the spot, covering the area out of instinct. When looking at her hand, there was nothing there. She huffed, fixing up her hair before gathering up some food to watch movies with Matt. Klaus had the healings of small scratch marks across his neck and jaw. The sensation of a hovering hand had left and he was feeling comfortable once more. He hadn’t felt the lingering notion of someone beside him in a long time - yet, there were times where he never felt alone. Oddly enough, it was only in last twenty years or so that this feeling hadn’t left him. 

It wasn’t until several days later when Caroline was studying in her room that something strange happened. She was relaxing with her books up on her knees, several other books laid out across her bed. Tucking hair behind her ear, her vision started to blur and fade into something else. She recognised it to some events in her life, but she hadn’t experienced it so vividly. 

As she tried to focus on her own hands, something else was far too overwhelming to ignore. “What the hell is happening?!” she exclaimed, looking down at her hands to see her own, but another layer of view put in front of it - a girl, bleeding out into the hands of a man who didn’t seem phased by what was happening. Klaus heard the voice like it was shouting in his ear, his own vision switching from his meal to feminine hands struggling to stay steady.  

“Not this again,” Klaus groaned, dropping the girl to his feet

“What is going on? What happened to that girl?” Caroline asked, her voice panicked. 

“What the hell is this?” Klaus asked, his attention spinning around the room, trying to find a girl hidden amongst the drapery. “Is this some spell? What witch have I pissed off this time?” he cursed. Caroline scattered to her feet, trying to focus on her room as she paced. She could feel her chest beating out a harsh beat - trying to figure out the mess that she was left in. What the hell was going on? Why was this happening to her?

“Who the hell is talking right now?” she asked, shutting her eyes and seeing clearly another surrounding - it was afternoon there, along a dusty highway, the heavy tyre sounds on gravel told her that. “Who are you?” she asked once more. 

“Niklaus,” he said, the notion to lie was suddenly lost on him, his ability to feel like he could was gone and he didn’t want to. She was scared of everything that was happening, unsure of it all; and Klaus could feel it in his chest. The idea of feeling human was sickening, but this fear was overwhelming, even for a human. 

“I..I’m Caroline,” she stuttered.

“Caroline, now, listen to me,” he said slowly. The wind whipped past him and Caroline could  _ feel _ it. He was real and so was she. “Are you a witch? Trying to figure out where I am or -” 

“Are you high?” Caroline interrupted with a scoff. “Listen, I’m a person. I’m not a witch. I don’t even know who you are,” she said, her breathing becoming frantic and Klaus could feel his head - or hers - get swimmy; an ache of fear and uncertainty. 

“Love, hey,” he started. “Where am I?” she said softly, looking out onto the view and avoiding any signs of the dead girl on the ground. 

“What?” Caroline mumbled, still trying to breathe.

“Where I am?” he said again, more sternly this time. 

Caroline adjusted her focus, trying to make sense of it all. He stood on the edge of a road by a truck, looking down on a wide valley, the town just beyond it. “You’re on a road. It’s dusty. You’re looking out at some valley,” she sniffed, breathing more regularly, but still unsure of what to make of it. “What the hell is happening to me?” she asked, clutching the sides of her head. 

“You tell me first,” Niklaus asked in return.

Then, there was a sharp knock to her bedroom door. The connection was lost and Caroline was in her room with the other vision out of her sight. Klaus turned, the vision of the room and the feeling of being human was gone. Caroline opened her door to find her mom, a curious look on her brow. “Caroline, are you alright? You sounded upset,” she asked. 

“Fine,” Caroline said, turning back into her room, trying to find anything of what had just happened. But nothing was there. “Just….something weird happening. I’m okay,” she shook her head and presented a fake smile to her mother, who seemed to buy it. 

Caroline had dinner with her mom, talking about school and the town. it was strange because she was talking to her mother, but there was an itching feeling at the back of her brain, calling to her, she need only focus on it for relief. But that would be opening something she wasn’t ready for. Instead, Caroline ignored it and continued to talk with her mom. Eventually, Caroline went back to her room, trying to think of Niklaus when everything jumped - as though she was winded - knocked back against her bed. They reached each other effortlessly, both trading what they saw with clarity. Klaus hadn’t expected to reach Caroline again, a swift flick and they were both with each other once more. Klaus took in a sharp breath as he saw Caroline’s room again. 

“Woah,” Caroline chuckled to herself. Niklaus seemed more nervous this time around. 

“You’re back,” he said, his voice low and somewhat cautious. 

“I am,” she replied, tucking hair behind her ear. Klaus felt her fingers go over his ear, her touch delicate. 

“We lost each other there,” he smirked, letting his hand slide over the back of his neck. Niklaus’ hand was rough, but had an odd tenderness about it - though she was aware of the harm he could inflict. Caution wanted to take her, but curiosity was going to win her over.

“I could feel you trying to get in, but I just had to focus you out,” she explained. She rubbed her arm. “Sorry.” 

“It’s alright,” he shrugged, unsure of what else to say. 

“This is so weird,” she giggled, biting her lip. Niklaus was in a hotel room of some kind, very lavish and spectacular - an almost grand gesture with every piece of furniture that littered the room.

“You could say that,” he said with a chuffed voice. Caroline scoffed, crossing her arms, but Klaus felt the giddiness in her chest - the wild temptation to tease and play. 

“And you’d call it something different?” she asked. 

“Strange is the word I’d use,” he shrugged, knowing her reply.

“So, essentially, weird,” she laughed. Klaus indulging in her laugh, the playfulness to it as it squeaked in enjoyment. Klaus knew that making her happy was going to be a blessing to him. As well as his undoing. 

“Yes,” he replied, letting his head fall back against the wall. 

 

*~*~*

 

Klaus and Caroline spoke almost everyday, the willingness to talk to each other was far too enticing not to. Klaus would interrupt her during a class, and make her laugh, just so her could hear her. Caroline would talk to him about things, Nik seeming to have more experience in the world than she could even dream about. He talked to her about art, showing her his own just because he wanted to - Caroline impressed with his experience and most things he said to her, knowing he was impressing her on some level; she didn’t care.

It became frequent, the small flashes of a person that could be the other. Klaus saw Caroline once in a dream, thinking she was utterly beautiful, but lost the image when he woke. Caroline saw Klaus once when they were talking and he walked past a mirror. He barely looked at, so she only caught a glimpse of him. Sometimes she would catch him at his worst, eating - or rather, feeding - off of people. She would leave most of the time, try not to let him know that she was there too long. They never spoke about it, but she was beginning to realise what he was. 

One night, she finally got the courage; sitting on her bed with her knees up to her chest, she said it. “I know what you are.” Klaus perked his head up, watching as she stared down at her toes. He was caught off guard for a moment before he knew that there was no use in hiding what he was - though, he didn’t exactly want to. 

“You’ve felt it, haven’t you?” he asked, clasping his hands together. 

“Why does your hunger always seem so…” Caroline started to ask, but wasn’t sure how to phrase it. When she felt him feeding, knowing full well he was a vampire because it seemed to be the only logical thing - especially with her experience with other creeps in the town - she felt him wishing for his stomach to be full, though never quite getting to the point away from starvation. 

“Unquenchable?” he finished for her. She nodded her head and Klaus felt it. “Do I scare you?” he asked her, an uncertain quiver in his voice.

“Yes,” she said, her mind changing in just a moment. “No,” she replied quickly, then sighing.  “I don’t know,” she said honestly - the question itself so hard to answer for some reason. She should have been scared of him, what he was capable of - but it didn’t. She knew what he was doing was horrible, but it didn’t frighten her.

Everything became open after that, Klaus avoiding the goreish details and talking about the men and women he had met over his history. His time with Shakespeare had given him many tales and Caroline admitted to liking them the most. She fell asleep listening to Nik talk; his voice, rich with his English accent, kept her feeling safe and wanted. They talked about the better things for Klaus, his moments of being in an alive world, where everything was heightened and felt brighter than when he was human. 

When the car accident happened, Nik tried and tried to push his way into her head, but she was never able to let him in. Caroline desperately wanted him there, keeping her safe and calming her when she was at her most vulnerable. Klaus wanted to hold Caroline, make sure she was alright and unharmed - slaughtering those who did this to her. When she had moments of clarity, though they were filled with some pain, he would talk to her to keep her mind occupied. The moment she fell asleep in less pain than before, he felt like he was doing something right. 

One night, she woke with a foggy head, her vision a daze and Klaus knew he could talk to her, his voice willingly seeping into her. She called to him softly, and he said her name back. He could feel her smile.“Why does my head keep hurting the most?” she groaned. 

“I’ve lived for a very long time, Caroline. I can tell that you’re going to get through this,” he said, sitting up on his bed, smirking as he watched her reach for some of her food. 

“How do you know?” she asked.

“Call it instinct. Maybe even history,” he said and she laughed softly. “Caroline, everything is going to be alright,” he said calmly. She gave a gentle sigh before taking a drink and sitting back into place, sleeping easily once more. Midway through the night, Klaus heard Caroline, her body aching slightly as she switched the TV in her room off. 

“Elena?” Caroline asked, her voice seeping into Kalus’ ear. He tried to push her out, let her rest without him there, but the other voice caught him.

“Hi, Caroline.” That voice. It was so familiar. Klaus rose up, adjusting his vision to see through Caroline’s eyes. But she was still dazed, nothing quite adjusting. 

“What are you doing here?” Caroline asked, still out of it. 

“My name is Katherine.” Klaus tried to get Caroline to focus, her attention trained back on the girl in front of her. Caroline focused and Klaus saw someone he hadn’t in over five hundred years. “I was hoping you could give the Salvatore brothers a message for me.”

“Katerina?” Klaus said. Caroline heard him.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, both Klaus and the woman in front of her. 

“Game on,” Katerina said before placing the pillow over Caroline’s face. Caroline bellowed and struggled against it, trying to breathe as hard as she could. 

“Caroline!” Klaus cursed, wanting to run somewhere, but there was no place he could go - he didn’t know where she was and it was killing him. He dashed across his room, throwing everyone and anything in sight, anger boiling in his veins. 

Drinking the hardest liquor he could find, Klaus sat against the wall, feeling the guilt he once felt with Henrik - not being able to save the ones he cared for. Then, Klaus’ eyes adjusted to the bright ceiling of a hospital room, the light piercing into his eyes. Caroline was alive...but she wasn’t. Everything felt bigger, louder, touch was sharper. He could feel it instantly, getting to his feet in shock. Caroline was in transition. 

The next few days and weeks were chaotic. Caroline was so focused on the world around her that it became easier for her to shut Klaus out. Caroline thought of Nik every once and awhile, but focusing on him was hard when the world was screaming in her ear. When the Salvatore brothers found her and helped her, she was getting the hang of things. Making her way home, her mother inviting her inside and everything seeming to go back to normal - Caroline finally focused enough to let Nik in. 

“Caroline?” 

“Hi,” she said quietly. 

He could feel the pit of her stomach, how she craved more and more because just one meal doesn’t seem to be enough. “The cravings,” he started and Caroline perked. “They’ll subside,” he told her. 

“How do you know?” she asked. 

“A thousand years, sweetheart,” he smirked and Caroline felt like laughing at his cockiness. “you learn a thing or two.”

“I wish you were here,” she said, tucking hair behind her ear. God, just that small sensation was heightened. Klaus remembered the first time it had happened, how delicate her hand was. Now, it was like the sensation of a rose petal against skin - so beautiful and soft. “To help me with this,” she said quietly, a small amount of guilt in her voice. 

“I’d be an awful chaperone,” he told her, smiling as they both knew that he was truthful. But with that, Caroline had a feeling of loneliness that echoed through to Klaus so easily, he knew he had to say something else. “You can live a life, Caroline, you don’t have to be afraid,” he told her. Caroline was about to speak when the footsteps beneath her room became overbearing and Klaus was pushed out once more.

“You talking to someone?” Her mother called out. 

“Uh, no, just trying to figure out things. Talking to myself seems about as best as I can do,” she shrugged, trying to find her way back to Nik, but he wasn’t trying to find her this time. He pushed her away - saving himself from the notion of feeling. 

It was a few days before Klaus and Caroline spoke again, Klaus finding out that she’s adjusting better, her friends taking care of her and making sure she’s safe - even able to live like she used to. Caroline talked about how eating sucked but how feeding made her feel powerful - a confidence that she minorly lacked when she was human, amplified as a vampire. 

“You know what I’ve realised,” he said, interrupting their conversation. “We’ve never actually seen each other,” he said, wondering if she’d take the bait and they could finally see one another. 

“Can we keep it that way for now?” she asked, the hope that went down in Nik’s chest was saddening and Caroline tried to make it better. “It’s not that I don’t want to see you. I just have a lot going on here and I want to meet you when my world isn’t crumbling down around me,” she laughed and Klaus smiled.

“We will each other soon, Caroline,” he said, looking down at his hands, watching as he let his finger run over the lines on his opposite palm. Caroline watched the hands that she was fond of grace over his skin, the sensation not lost on her. He was doing it as a way of touching her, the closest thing they had.

“How do you know?” she asked, responding in the same way, her finger lightly gracing up her palm. Nik sighed, biting at his lip and making Caroline bite back. He laid back on his bed. 

“Call it a hunch,” he said, knowing full well that the doppelgänger was now living in Mystic Falls...along with Caroline. 


	2. The Devil's Right There In The Detail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, the timeline of this was the closest thing I could do, it’s just….it feels messy and oh god i’m sorry. also started TO and tbh, needs more caroline. keen for what the future holds for us all

Willpower was simultaneously the best and worst thing about a vampire. They could control their hunger or give into it like they hadn’t eaten in weeks. The urge to connect with Niklaus was becoming an almost uncontrollable hunger. However, Niklaus pushed her away, forcing her down when all she wanted was to talk to him. Klaus had guilt over that, but he couldn’t let Caroline discover his plans. 

Then, everything became a whirlwind of events. Alaric became Klaus, then Klaus came to Mystic Falls. Caroline would have been sacrificed to the curse - instead it was Jenna. Damon began dying, Jeremy  _ did _ die and Stefan was driven to his bloodlust stage again. And all because of Klaus.  _ Caroline’s _ Niklaus. They were gone by the start of summer, both Stefan and Klaus. And it made everything so damn complicated. 

Over the course of the summer, several things happened. Caroline and Tyler became closer - talking nearly everyday, Elena and Damon searched for Stefan, and Klaus had tried to talk to Caroline repeatedly. On any other occasion she may have been fine with it, but things were different and the side she chose for her friends, was opposite to that of the man in her head. 

It was constant - nagging, tugging, the scratching of his voice in the back of her brain. Klaus had done his best to stay away, but once he was travelling and stefan bored him, he needed the girl inside his head. As his search for werewolves was getting closer, he just wanted to talk to her, hear Caroline’s voice like he used to; the soft sweet touch of it at the edge of his ear, like a lover and companion.

“Caroline,” he whispered one night, sitting in his hotel room, the only sound was his voice. And then, Caroline caved, her hands folding clothes in her bedroom. Caroline knew her head back, groaning.

“Nik, leave me alone,” she hugged, shutting her eyes. She’d done it before, making everything black and to have her another step out of reach. Klaus sighed with a breath that irritated and intoxicated Caroline. He knew that over the source of a year, he had a way with her, knowing what could make her smile; his voice little scoff could have her holding back a smile easily.

“Love, listen, just -” 

Caroline’s eyes sprung open, her hand slamming down onto her dresser. They both felt the wood creak beneath her grasp. “Niklaus! If you talk to me again, I swear I will shut you out for good,” she yelled, and with her voice cracking, he vanished from her mind. Caroline sighed, pushing back her hair and resting the back of her hand against her forehead. Klaus took hold of a nearby lamp and threw it against the wall. Frustration ran deep and he couldn’t sedate his anger. 

It wasn’t until several days later that Caroline and Klaus connected again, at no fault of their own; guards just came down. Kalus had let Stefan go take care of Damon, the other Salvatore brother was getting too close for comfort, which left Klaus to have some fun with the little werewolf he planned to use. When Klaus had settled in, drinking from the best bottle of scotch in the bar, his mind let Caroline in, and she let herself slip. Neither of them noticed, but the visions they had didn’t cloud their surroundings as they sometimes would.

Klaus was met with the vision of a party, young people drinking and dancing and a bottle that Caroline was drinking from. She moved through the crowd, picking up boys and moving them out of the way. Klaus chuckled when he saw it, but Caroline didn’t register his voice in her ear. Than, a boy came up to her, annoyed with her for some reason or another. They were arguing for a few moments before Caroline kissed him. Klaus quickly shut the image out, rubbing at the ridge of his nose. The connection was lost, but the feeling inside his chest remained. He threw the bottle of scotch across the room, watching at the bottle shattered and Klaus sighed, putting his hands on his hips. He knew what he was feeling, and he hated it. 

It took a few more hours for Klaus to lose his control on letting her in - peering into her mind without thinking. She was dressing, with the boys whom she kissed laying in the bed, a night full of events must have happened for her. She could feel him, pushing aside the images he was seeing, just so she could get out of Tyler’s house. When she met Mrs Lockwood downstairs, she was nervous and just wanted to go home - grabbing for her purse. It seared her skin and before she could even fully recover, she was shot in the back three times. Klaus was powerless, letting his worry take hold. How he always felt so powerless against the events she is surrounded with wounded Klaus. 

Days passed, Klaus’ hybrids failed to stick and it was becoming infuriating. But it was all pushed aside when Klaus couldn’t reach Caroline. And when he could, she was screaming in pain and shut Klaus out as quickly as she let him in. Klaus played it off, telling Stefan the truth about their past together, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult to stay focused when Klaus wanted to keep Caroline safe. Caroline held onto the chair as tightly as she could, trying to focus enough to let Klaus in, but the pain was exhausting. She got glimpses of him, the stress he was going through, but she rarely stayed longer than a second. 

When her mom and Tyler found her, she was laid to bed, Tyler slept beside her after all her crying. She felt so weak, the fact her father hated her loomed over her head, and the loneliness that paraded around her chest was echoing until she felt Klaus creep into her mind, her vision shifting to his own. He seemed frustrated - and with the necklace missing, he was. Yet, he was more concerned with Caroline. 

“Caroline?” he asked, cautious of her. She glanced around, showing Klaus Tyler and he knew she wouldn’t be able to talk that much. He licked at his lips.  “Are you alright? I could barely reach you,” he told her. Caroline shut her eyes tightly before sighing. 

“Just….” she whispered, binding her hand into Tyler’s shirt. Though he was there, she knew she wanted Klaus, wanted him to hold her. “Just talk to me for a while,” she whispered once more, trying not to wake the sleeping boy beneath her. Klaus sat down at the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees. He talked until she fell asleep and he relaxed back into his bed, staring up at the ceiling and realising he wished he was there - wished for more than he was. He almost wished he was better. 

It took Klaus a few more days before he figured out the problem with Stefan and his hybrid problem. Making his way back to Mystic Falls, he was planning a surprise that was exactly what his wickedness was capable of. When Rebekah found the werewolf, Klaus was one step closer to getting his army. giving Tyler, the boy he once saw with Caroline, his blood - he killed him, snapping the little werewolf’s neck. Klaus secretly enjoyed that part.

Rebekah took him to a classroom, where Caroline had watched as her boyfriend sprung to life. Tyler was getting worse by the minute, and every time Klaus came in with an update on the whole situation, he would look to Caroline, watching her curiously as she tried focus on Tyler - yet, the eyes that followed her had he feel special and like she needed to look back at him. 

“Why was he looking at you like that?” Tyler asked, straining to talk through his transition.

“Yeah, like I’d have a clue on what’s going on in that evil mind of his,” Caroline said, swallowing hard. She felt the small tug from Niklaus, begging her to let him in. Slipping in, she saw the glimpse of herself. Klaus saw himself through her eyes. They were so close, closer than they had ever been before. Then, she shut him out, focusing back on Tyler. 

When Tyler was finally past his transition, feeding off Elena’s blood, they had a moment alone. Tyler held her closely before going to the car. Caroline told him to go ahead as she needed to get her things to finish up this awful night. When heading back, Klaus whooshed in front of her, blocking her path. With his hands behind his back and a confident smirk gracing his face, he was making it harder to ignoring the racing of her undead heart. 

He looked different than Caroline had thought; his features were far sharper, and his smirk was more devilish than he was. To him, however, Caroline was as perfect and beautiful as he could ever imagine her to be - brilliantly amazing in every way she could be. Klaus circled her, inspecting her with intent and curiosity.

“Caroline,” he said, the same way he did when he longed to hear her voice. Caroline rose her chin as Nik smiled.

“Niklaus,” she replied. He had always liked the way she said his name.

“Don’t you at least -” 

“Screw you,” she spat. Klaus chuckled.

Caroline groaned, walking past Klaus in anger. He  _ had _ just turned her boyfriend into a hybrid against his will. “Listen, love, we don’t have to -” he started, his hand grabbing at her wrist. The touch was sizzling, an electric shock that raced over skin like a livewire. They both pulled away in a sharp hiss. 

“Don’t do that again,” she warned him, pushing past him and leaving to go with Tyler. The new that Mikael was coming back threw Klaus, leaving suddenly and without another word to Caroline. 

As things around Mystic Falls became odd and overwhelming, including ghosts returning to the town to kill people and all those who had hurt them in the past, Caroline was being to wish high school was over and done with - to get away from the madness of it all. So, to preoccupy her time, Caroline planned for homecoming; trying with all her might to make it the best homecoming that Mystic Falls had ever seen. 

Sitting up in her bed, scattered notepads with designs and other plans lay around her. She had written plans and scrapped ones laying near her, but she was focusing on her list of priorities, elements to focus on first before moving on and fixing everything together. Caroline huffed, tucking hair behind her ear and tapping her notepad with a pen.

“What is that we’re planning here?” Klaus’ voice shocked her in a jump.

“You can’t just surprise me like that!” she cursed, fixing up her sweater. Klaus chuckled, a lavious room before him, something old yet elegant. Caroline sighed; she had seen all the places that Klaus had been, the magnificence that she had never once basked in and how she was so tempted to run and live such a grand life. Though, she knew Klaus had probably gotten this through horrid means, it dampened her joy of seeing the world. 

“Did you not notice me at all?” he asked in a laugh, the sudden realisation that Klaus had been at the corner of her mind most of her time on her bed was a little overwhelming. Caroline tucked herself up, holding herself closely. 

“Go away, Nik,” she said in a low hushed voice, pinning her phone to her ear. She heard her mother walking near, checking in on Caroline once more. Smiling innocently to her mother, she kept her phone pinned underneath her ear and against her shoulder.

“Don’t be like that, Caroline,” he moaned, walking over to a bookcase and placing a leather bound book back into the shelf and running his finger over the spines until he fancied another. Caroline watched as his fingers were delicate against the books, barely touching it and yet a tenderness was to him as well - it made Caroline shiver.

“I’m busy, can you go torture another girl? I’m planning prom here,” she said, pushing past the feeling overwhelming her chest and trying to focus on the list, which was becoming increasingly harder to concentrate on when Klaus was waltzing around and joy was filling him. 

“Love, is the hostility necessary?” he asked, his voice still playful and arrogant. 

“Stop getting in my head!” she retorted, shoving her books from her lap and shutting her eyes, trying to focus on letting him go, but her heart couldn’t let her, he was all she could think about in that moment. 

“You know this is a two way street, love,” he reminded. 

“I don’t want you here. Go away!” she said, getting more frustrated with herself. Klaus felt the wetness that filled beneath his eyes - her eyes. She was beginning to cry.

He needed to calm her down, to not upset her any further. “Caroline, please just -” 

“Stop it, Klaus!” she shouted before her sobbing became overbearing. Klaus let her be and she cried out. She was at war with herself. There was nothing that could stop this connection - a connection that had gone unanswered for years. Klaus had let her be for many reasons, one being that she seemed to be hurting far more about this than expected, and two - she had called him Klaus for the first time. And it seemed to hurt more.

Klaus returned to town, killed the bastard he called his father, and was basking in the fact that his torment was over. Caroline was pissed, knowing for a fact that Klaus sabotaged her prom for his plan.She was ignoring him and the separation was frustrating in an annoying way; Klaus was, after all, in the damn town she lived in. Then, to top everything else off, Stefan had the nerve to piss Klaus off, making everything more work than necessary. Calling upon the local hybrid minion, Klaus crossed his arms and smiled to Tyler.

“Bite one of your friends for me,” he ordered simply. 

“What? No, are you insane?” Tyler retorted. 

“It’s been widely debated. I need to get back at Stefan and hurting the ones he cares about seems to be the only way to get that boy to do anything,” Klaus huffed.

“I can’t do that, Klaus. I won’t,” Tyler retorted, storming off like a child. Klaus sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he had to think on a way to anger Stefan in return. As the day went on, event after event happening - Stefan antagonising Klaus further, he was soon visited by a frantic and somewhat angry Tyler. 

“I bit Caroline because of you!” he exclaimed. The notion in itself infuriated Klaus. He grabbed hold of Tyler’s throat, squeezing it tightly.

“You did what?” he said sternly, watching as the pathetic hybrid clawed at Klaus’ hand. He never expected Caroline to be the recipient of the bite, that Tyler’s refusal would be just a show and the sire would take hold against Caroline. When Klaus came to the door, he acted patient, he put up his front of nonchalant behaviour. Being invited in, he felt like racing up the stairs just to make sure she was okay, but he restrained himself - for who was he to worry so diligently over someone he had never met? Those would be the thoughts of her mother and Matt.

He rounded the corner, seeing a frail looking Caroline as she was laid up in bed. She spotted him, and their minds linked once more. Her vision was blurry and every time she tried to focus, it hurt the corner of her mind. But she knew it was him, she could feel him. “Are you going to kill me?” she asked, a question he wasn’t quite expecting. Though, with their lives linked the way they were, be that their minds or their enemy status, it wasn’t the last question he ever thought she’d say. 

“On your birthday? You really think that low of me?” he asked softly. 

“Yes.”

Klaus took in a long breath, moving slowly to Caroline’s side. She was breathing heavily, a fixture of emotions filtering into Klaus; fear, anticipation, lust, but most of all pain. He moved the blanket to the side, revealing the haggard appearance of a wolf bite. “Oh, that looks bad,” he grimaced. Klaus tilted his head, looking at the bracelet that hung around her wrist - a new gift most likely, a lovely little addition to her perfectness. “I love birthdays,” he smiled, tapping one of the charms. 

“Yeah. Aren’t you like...a billion or something?” she almost laughed. 

“We have to adjust your perception of time when you become a vampire, Caroline,” Klaus grinned wider. “Celebrate the fact that you’re no longer bound by trival human conventions. You’re free.”

“No. I’m dying.” Klaus tilted his head once more, taking a place on her bed, fitting in perfectly to the gap she left in her cradled body. She didn’t move. He was curious about her; through all the hours and days they had talked - the injuries, the pain, and the fond feelings they shared, the barely knew one another. Never meeting another was hard to figure out who they truly were, and as Caroline lay dying before him, he was still getting to know her. 

“And I could let you die, if that’s what you want,” he said quietly, his own words wounding him to some degree. “If you really believe your existence has no meaning. I’ve thought about it myself, once or twice over the centuries, truth be told,” he bared, leaning into Caroline, whispering to her with joy filling up his chest - it relieved the pain that welled within Caroline’s. 

“But I’ll let you in on a little secret. There’s a whole world out there waiting for you, great cities and art and music…” his voice low, his hand almost touching at her skin. They both gasped, taking in cautious breaths - the first time they touched, it was like a spark, now here, the spark was building for something more, though they had yet to come close to each other. “Genuine beauty. And you can have all of it. You can have a thousand more birthday days. All you have to do is ask.”

It took her a moment, their connection lost and leaving each other to their own feelings once more, the pain she was feeling didn’t translate to Klaus anymore, but the feelings still lingered in the spot. “I don’t want to die,” she murmured, barely able to feel a thing. Rolling up his sleeve, Klaus cradled the back of her neck, fixing her up right against his chest. 

“There you go, sweetheart, have at it,” he whispered, his chin leaning against the top of her head. Caroline whimpered before her fangs pierced his skin and she began to drink from his wrist. “Happy birthday, Caroline.” 

When Caroline had finished, the healing process starting slowly, Klaus was going home, smiling at his accomplishment for the night. When he finally came back to his home, he felt the small tugging at his mind. Letting Caroline in, she sighed. He was relieved to feel that Caroline was no longer in pain, but was still fatigued. 

“Nik?” she rasped. He smiled. 

“Look who’s back in the world of the living,” he chuckled. 

“You helped me?” Caroline sounded surprise and Klaus shrugged, as though the answer was obvious.

“Of course, love.” 

“That means you touched me,” she said. 

“It was needed, sweetheart,” he smirked. 

“How…how did it feel? To touch me?” Caroline stammered. Klaus stopped and Caroline felt him pull away. “Nik?” she asked before he shut her out. Caroline sighed before taking herself back to bed, sleeping with the question nagging her into worry and curiosity. She would never find out as long as he kept it from her. 

Klaus didn’t know how to answer her, the fear of telling her what it felt like was overwhelming. So he shut her out. Klaus had memorised that moment, how her skin felt beneath his hand, how her lips felt against his skin, how  _ everything felt _ . Yet, how was he to tell her that their touch was pure magic - nothing a witch could conjure, but rather, so pure and earthly, that it made him feel more alive than anything over the last thousand years. 

He knew it, the moment he saw her, but their touch cemented the idea - Klaus was irrevocably in love with Caroline; for the first time in a thousand years, Klaus Mikaelson was in love. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (one note, those scenes between klaus and tyler? i fucked them up so hard hahaha)   
> Thanks for reading this story my dudes. I hope this chapter was good. And after that finale of TVD, i am living. Hope you all are too.


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